Strait-Jacket (1964)

Featured Audience Ratings

• AJ V

  
  This is a fun murder mystery, you think you know what's going on, but it surprises you. I really liked it.

• Tim S

  
  One of the top 5 William Castle films? Could be number one actually.

• Stella D

  
  omg hilarious. actually i felt a little sorry for joan. this is what happened to female stars who were considered too old to play romantic leads. i would love to own this poster tho :p

• Veronique K

  
  inspired by "whatever happened to baby jane," william castle approaches joan crawford to star in his ax-swaying camp classic "straight-jacket" which accidentally turns into the muse for christina crawford to write "mommie dearest"(which tina shows to joan… More
  inspired by "whatever happened to baby jane," william castle approaches joan crawford to star in his ax-swaying camp classic "straight-jacket" which accidentally turns into the muse for christina crawford to write "mommie dearest"(which tina shows to joan one year before she dies that leads to the nullification of tina and christopger's heritage.) as well as its faye dunaway's movie adaption. admitted by crawford herself, except "night gallery," every flick after "baby jane" stinks, and she does them for boredom and the urgent need of money. and in 1964, movie theater actually dispatches card-board ax to the audience with a slyly smirking humor. if one pays attention, the comlumbia lady's head is chopped off in the end sequence. the story is predictable, crawford plays lucy harpin who chops off her husband and his mistress's heads with an ax after discovering his infidelty on bed, then lucy is inflicted with maniac insanity ever since for twenty years. lucy returns home when her daughter grows up as a young lady. then several decapitated murders occur, suddenly lucy is in the tainted spot of suspicions again. unknown to most, the script is actually created by the classic writer of hitchcock's "psycho", robert bloch. you might find the remnant cheese of "psycho" in it: the perversion of oedipus complex, transvestite schizophrenia and the titilating suspense before the murder. as for crawford's performance, it's sheerly campy fun to the maxium since castle requests crawford to go full throttle, and she does. crawford shifts from the timid mom in plain matron suit to floral-dressed trampy brunette with a vulgar bang. one moment, she's fragile and coyly demure, next moment she tries to behave flamboyantly with a sedative wink, teasing her daughter's boyfriend with fingers upon his lips, flirting with a man young enough to be her son by attempting to place her fingers into his mouth. that is astounishly jaw-dropping, lighting off a matchstick by scratching the gramophone record. simply classic!!!! but when she shifts to the state of norm, her frailty seems genuine and there's an residual of elegance in her when she combs her hair neat to bare the contour of her well-proportioned profile. "straight-jacket" is hilarious and the beheading looks so laughably fake, and it's designed for those hard-core crawford likers and aficinados who appreciate camp horror and william castle.

• jay n

  
  latter day joan, not as bad as some but miles away from her best.

• Mike N

  
  Alive, in Victoria Falls (Zambia side today). Returning Stateside on Tuesday. Bummed about the Rockies getting their rumps handed to them in the World Series. Happy I'm alive to experience the bummer, after the Zambezi. That river kicked my arse. See ya folks soon, and with pics!… More
  Alive, in Victoria Falls (Zambia side today). Returning Stateside on Tuesday. Bummed about the Rockies getting their rumps handed to them in the World Series. Happy I'm alive to experience the bummer, after the Zambezi. That river kicked my arse. See ya folks soon, and with pics! By the way, any good movies out lately? Saw the majority of both Away From Her and The Hoax on the flights out here, but not in their entirety (bleeping Air Canada's crappy in-flight electronics can be blamed for that). Both were excellent until being snapped away like a ghost line from my transfixed eyes. Bah.

• Leo L

  
  Interesting story plot. Gotta love Joan Crawford.

• Anthony V

  
  Good piece of William Castle cheese.

Read all 8 featured audience ratings